Princess of Lisbon
In Tampico Bay sits a massive relic of Pre-war military power, and post-war government. The HMS Princess of Lisbon, ''named after an honorary title given to Princess Stephanie, stands as a testament to the Pre-war power of the Royal Navy, and as the seat of the post-war Protectorate's government. History Pre-War & Great War The HMS ''Princess of Lisbon ''was constructed and launched by Cymru Nautica Shipbuilders in 2075, commissioned into the Royal Navy in 2076. Assigned to the Royal Navy's Caribbean squadron under the command of Admiral Harold Washburn, with the ''Princess ''being captained by Rear Admiral Willard Warwick. The ''Princess ''sailed across the Atlantic, meeting up with the rest of her squadron at Bermuda in late 2076. From there they traversed the ocean into the Caribbean, with their chief duty being the evacuation of British citizens living throughout the rapidly destabalizing South American continent, and Latin America. Starting in Buenos Aires, the ''Princess spent the next year travelling between various South and Central American ports, evacuating British citizens and ferrying them to safer shores in the UK. However as the situation in the Americas became more unstable, Admiral Washburn decided that it would be prudent to breakup the squadron and have them go to each port, taking on as many people as they could and ferrying them home from there. The Princess ''was outside the port of Veracruz when the first bombs began to fall on Mexico. As Bolivian, American and Chinese bombers flew overhead, the ''Princess made a beeline for the open ocean, only just escaping the warhead that struck Veracruz. On the open ocean, Admiral Warwick ordered that the ship would make for each of the coastal cities and settlements where they were scheduled to pickup refugees and take as many as they could aboard. For several weeks the Princess ''steamed into chaotic harbors, taking on refugees, dumping nonessential equipment to allow more space for people, and shooting at anything that looked like trouble. During the entirety of their mad dash between harbors, Willard had no contact with Britain or his superiors in the squadron, instead he acted entirely on his own. It was in December of 2077 that the crew of the ''Princess ''picked up a distress signal, following it, they found Admiral Harold Washburn's flagship, the cruiser: HMS ''Trafalgar ''beached on the coast of what was once the Dominican Republic. Sending a search party ashore, the made contact with the survivors, led by Admiral Washburn. After getting aboard, Admiral Washburn said they had wrecked during a storm, but more importantly before they had crashed, they had been combing the Northern Mexican coast for signs of survivors, and discovered that Tampico harbor had noticeably lower levels of irradiation then many other areas. It seemed to Admiral Washburn that the most intelligent move would be to take the ship and drop anchor in Tampico, while keeping the ship sealed and waiting for the radiation to subside. After a meeting between the senior officers, this plan was agreed upon, with the ''Princess ''sailing into Tampico bay the night of December 30, 2077. Era of Isolation In the ninety years that the ''Princess in Tampico bay, the ship sat sealed, containing the several thousand people within its grey steel walls. Inside the ship, the crew and refugees carried on as best they could, carving up the ships various holds, and its main hangar into something of a living space, as the crew ditched the few remaining jets to make as much room as possible. As time went on a number of concerns confronted the senior officers, mainly the question of food supplies, before the war, the British government had seen it wise to outfit their ships with large stocks of nonparishable foods, enough to feed the crew for years. But with an extra 1,500 mouths to feed on board, the ships food supply was quickly being drained, even with rationing, the ships stocks couldn't last more than another fifteen years. Thus the senior officers, led by a now aged Admiral Harold Washburn, agreed to open up the ship to trade with outside merchants, upon attracting a handful of early Rafters, the ship promptly purchased all the foodstuffs they could trade for and offered substantial payment for more. The merchants, enthused by their generous payments (consisting of scrap metal and electronics, pre-war commodity currency and jewelry, along with a small supply of radiation medication, quickly returned with a plentiful supply of provisions they had plucked from the ruins, including several bags of seeds. The food was purchased, the ship resealed and the seeds were taken down into the ships medical center where they were examined, deemed still good for use and on orders from Admiral Wasburn, the lowest deck was retrofitted to be used as a hydrophonics farm. Allowing a certain degree of sustainability to the crew and passengers. However the effect of attracting the attention of merchants, was the onslaught of pirates and raiders that were attracted towards the Princess ''all in search of her hidden troves of pre-war tech and supplies. For the remainder of her time in isolation, the crew of the ''Princess ''spent as much time trading with outsiders as they did killing them, as crew after crew of pirates tested the ships defenses and time after time, they lost, most of the time costing them their lives. Eventually a system was setup where merchants that wished to trade aboard the ship would flash the ship's island either with a torch, signal lamp or by some other means indicating their intentions. Thus working to prevent any accidental shootings. By the time 2160 came around, the board of senior officer, since having been named the Board of Survival, decided it would be prudent to send a part ashore to discover what had become of the inhabitants of Tampico. Looking for volunteers, the officers found thirty-five men who were willing to don radiation suits and go ashore, alongside their selected commander, a young Commodore named George St. Clair. Having donned their radiation suits, kevlar vests, and armed themselves the small expedition set out for shore. Arriving in the city, they found the ruins of Tampico inhabited by a mix of gangs, slavers, and tribals, all savages and all spent a good deal of time killing each other. Collecting samples of the local flora and fauna, and dispatching five would be comancheros, the party returned to shore with no losses and no being seriously wounded. Seeing that the radiation levels had dropped significantly to livable levels, the senior officers voted and agreed that they would go to shore exactly seven years from the day. In that time Harold Washburn, now in his nineties, died of heart failure and was replaced on the board by his twenty year old son, Jason Washburn as Admiral of the Fleet and later as Lord High Admiral. Willard Warwick as well passed on, leaving his elderly wife and two grandchildren, neither of whom were old enough for service. Thus George St. Clair was promoted to Rear Admiral and given his old position. Unsealing In March of 2167 the ''Princess of Lisbon ''was unsealed by its crew and passengers, immediately the ships compliment of Royal Marines descended into ancient motor launches and sped off towards the shore, securing the small dock area and making way for the second and third waves of marines to come ashore. The whole operation was overseen by Rear Admiral George St. Clair, who went ashore with the third wave. Once ashore the marines spread out into the local area, dispatching comancheros, bandits and anyone else who looked like trouble. Those tribals and wasters who didn't resist were invited to come back to the docks area and receive medical treatment, food and an alcoholic beverage, those who partook became the first Hispanic citizens of the Protectorate. Seat of Government After the ship was unsealed, and its inhabitants dispersed among the ruins of Tampico, the ''Princess ''continued to serve a role, as a home to the Protectorate's twenty-one Lords and their families. It was here in 2200 that the Protectorate's Constitution was ratified and the ''Princess ''herself was given a seat in Parliament, to be voted on by its inhabitants. During this era the ship served as a home and later refuge for the Protectorate's more well off citizens, and when violence broke out in the streets of Tampico in 2232 it took on refugees from throughout the Protectorate. When Jorge Cruces and his army of revolutionaries captured the last vestige of resistance on land, the ''Princess ''sat as the last bastion of the old order, Lord High Admiral Jason Washburn was willing to defend the ship to the last man, but the refugees rose up, imprisoned Washburn and his fellow despots and surrendered the ship peacefully to the Democratic forces. After the Native Rebellion the ship returned to its old duties serving as the home of the Great Officers of State and as the meeting place of the Protectorate's Parliament. The various Lords, minus those who had been executed, returned to the ship to reside, knowing that their votes would no longer count for a seat that solely represented the ship, but that of the District of Rochester. Notable Residents *George St. Clair - The PDF's founder and later renowned Parliamentarian, George St. Clair was born onboard the ship in 2137 to a Navy ensign and chamber maid. He later rose through the ranks of the ship's stratocracy and accepted the position as Rear Admiral in 2160, at the young age of thirty. He later went on to found the PDF, become its commander and later retire to Parliament where he was instrumental in the re-founding of the PDF and Protectorate alike after the Native Rebellion. He died in 2233, at the age of 103. *Jason Washburn - The son of the Admiral of the Fleet, Harold Washburn. Jason Washburn took his father's place on the military board after his death, throughout his life he looked down on those below him and his fellow officers in and among the crew and passengers, a view shared by several of his fellow officers. When the Protectorate was formed he led the Lords in trying to get more concessions to the Lords and upper class whites. He later headed the Provisional Government after Robert Welsh and Vincente Vega stepped down, and was later hanged for his part in several atrocities that occurred during the war. *William Bainbridge - The first Lord Chief Justice of the Protectorate, he was known as the "Definer of the Dominion" as his court set precedents for years to come on judicial proceedings, the rights of the citizenry and the abolition of and the fight against the slave trade. He was known as being a very progressive man, ruling against a case to allow the PDF to conscript Hispanics without the use of a lottery, and more involving race, religion, and creed. He was famous for his decision in the 2210 case, ''Velez v. Montgomery where he asserted that Hispanics had just as much a right to property as any white did, a controversial decision given his mother's noble heritage. He died at the age of ninety-one. *Jorge Cruces - The revolutionary leader of the Democratic Front, Cruces had come from a mixed Black and Hispanic family, and had spent his childhood working the corn fields outside of Santa Clara. After enlisting in the PDF to escape his poor lifestyle in Santa Clara he experienced discrimination and segregation due to his race. He left the army burned and angry, he went on to write pamphlets denouncing the PDF's policies and the racial policies of the Provisional Government. He eventually formed the Democratic Front and led them during their revolution in 2232. He went on to become the Prime Minister of the Dominion and help rebuild the Protectorate, around the Constitution and more egalitarian policies. Category:Places Category:Mexico Category:Tamaulipas